Sunday, July 25, 2010

Move it or lose it

The abuses in the probation department being cataloged by the Globe says volumes about the power of patronage and long-term problems in state government. But you can rest assured lawmakers spending a frantic final week in formal sessions won't be talking about that.

Nope. They will be laughing and shaking their heads at the absolute cluelessness on the part of the state's senior United States Senator -- and the Herald's flood-the-zone coverage.

"Political shipwreck" seems a mild description for Kerry's decision to purchase a $7 million, made-in-New Zealand yacht and berth it in neighboring Rhode Island to avoid an estimated $500,000 in Massachusetts taxes.

Not since his infamous "I was for it before I was against it" comment has John Forbes Kerry managed to remove the silver spoons from his mouth and insert two over-sized boat shoes. And the Herald is certainly not about to let him forget his self-Swift boating, with by my count, six stories or columns to fill an otherwise dull Sunday newspaper.

“My wife is the majority stockholder of this, eh, holds it and she’s a Pennsylvania taxpayer so let’s not get silly here. We pay enormous taxes to the state of Massachusetts and there is nothing illegal here. . . . “I’m not going to get hounded by a bunch of politics in this . . . and that’s the way it is.”

Nope, nothing illegal. It's just the kind of political hypocrisy that fuels Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Do as I say and not as I do.

Here's a bit of damage control advice Long Jawn: Move the yacht to Massachusetts or sell it and buy American.

2 Comments:

You are exactly right, oops I mean correct. Sen. Kerry did what any reasonable person would do: He didn't pay the taxes he could avoid. He is in hot water because of the hypocrisy of doing that while being an advocate of higher taxes on producers. That is why he is the picture of a “limousine liberal.” What apparently was committed at the probation department is far worse as it may lead to criminal convictions. In the Tea Party movement we see these stories as the two faces of the same coin. Hypocrisy, corruption and worst of all incompetence are the marking of Progressism. They are empirical proof that government is not the solution, but the problem. They further inspire us in the Tea Party movement to stand against an ever increasing government sprawl.